Q&A: Jewish Law — Ruling or Uncovering?
Jewish Law — Ruling or Uncovering?
Question
On the one hand, the Rabbi’s approach is well known: basically, a rabbi is supposed to uncover the Jewish law, present the various approaches, and the questioner should decide what to do. On the other hand, in the lecture series “Jewish Law and Reality,” the Rabbi showed that a halakhic decisor needs expertise in drawing lines and in understanding reality, which presumably an ordinary person does not have. If so, how does the questioner have any room to decide? The decisor just gives him the appropriate ruling, and that’s that, no?
Answer
There are situations in which there is a clear halakhic answer, even if there are no unequivocal criteria for it. I was speaking about situations in which there are several possible halakhic paths, and there the decisor should describe them to the questioner and leave the decision to him. Beyond that, in matters of public Jewish law, for example, the decisor has to determine the bottom line.